April 20, 2017: Props

On April 20, 2017, I texted Matt a question in the middle of his work day: How would you feel about a real tea kettle versus the electric kind. (Really riveting material today.) It’s not particularly relevant to our story, which I’ll get to, but it’s interesting to read in light of today, the one …

April 19, 2017: Maybe It’s Me?

On April 19, 2017, I forgot to bring G’s glove to softball and showed up with the wrong kind of helmet. I said “half and a half” in a text message to Matt instead of “hour and a half”. Chances are I forgot to buy half my grocery list at the supermarket that day, too. …

April 18, 2017: Small World

I’m sitting here, trying to write about April 18, 2017, which was actually a funny, it’s-a-small-world kind of day, but I drove down a street last night that I hadn’t been on since January 23rd, and now my brain keeps skipping ahead to the worst days, to the days when I walked out of hospital …

April 17, 2017: Blaming Brain Cancer

If I showed a doctor our text message conversation  from April 17, 2017, about whether Matt was going to paddle tennis with a few guys, they’d see a typo. Matt wrote they instead of that, so what? The doctors couldn’t see what I saw when I read that response. Without the benefit of thirteen years …

April 16, 2017: Plummeting

We’d been on a downward spiral for at least a few days by April 16, 2017, but up until then Matt had been able to rally. Just the day before we’d gone not only to a 104th birthday celebration in the afternoon but also to a 40th birthday dinner. But the next day, Matt couldn’t …

April 15, 2017: The Theory of Time

On April 15, 2017, we celebrated Matt’s grandfather’s 104th birthday. Yesterday, we celebrated his grandfather’s 105th birthday. In the same room. With (nearly) the same small group of people. But this time, the man of the hour sat by the wall, not in front of the window. This time, there was strawberry shortcake instead of …

April 14, 2017: Apple, penny, and…

By 6:27 on April 14, 2017, Matt was on a plane heading to Duke. Yes, he’d eaten (a ton, in his words) and yes, he’d forgotten to take his Dex but he had it with him and would take it right away. By 8:12, he’d landed. H hadn’t even woken up for school yet. Bloodwork …

April 13, 2017: Words and numbers

I wish there was a screen shot of a text message or an email to describe the conversation Matt and I had on the night of April 13, 2017. There isn’t. Our conversation over text revolved, again, around those blinds for the bathroom. (I know, how much can one couple discuss a bathroom window?!) There …

April 12, 2017: Amazing Brain

Re-reading the posts from the last two days I realize I contradicted myself. One day I’m writing about how Matt’s humor and personality were under assault and the next how he could joke with his sister and crack us all up around the dinner table. Both stories couldn’t be true, right? They could, if the …

April 11, 2017: Oranges on the Seder plate

On April 11, 2017, Matt’s sister put an orange on the Seder plate and announced that it stood for women’s rights. This was all Matt needed. I don’t remember the exact conversation. I’m sure he teased her in the way only a big brother could. I’m sure we all laughed, his sister included. I’m sure, …